Methodology

The development of the INDB involved the following steps:

• Data was compiled from the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) Indian Food Composition Table (IFCT) 2017 and 2004, covering a total of 528 and 369 raw food items, respectively.
• Additionally 144 raw foods were United Kingdom FCT (UKFCT) and 54 raw foods were referenced from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food composition database.
• 611 recipes from “Basic Food Preparation, 4th Edition” and 513 from “The Art and Science of Cooking, 5th Edition” were collated.
• Duplicate recipes (258) were removed, and 148 recipes were added from popular Indian food blogs, resulting in 1,014 total recipes. Each recipe was updated with English and local names and assigned unique codes.
• The recipe database in Microsoft Excel details ingredient amounts, total weight, number of servings, and serving size.
• Nutrient content per 100g and serving was calculated by summing individual ingredients, primarily using IFCT 2017 and IFCT 2004 data, with supplementary data from the UK FCT (144 ingredients) and USDA food composition database (54 ingredients).
• All calculations were performed using Stata version 17, and the STATA codes enabling researchers to update recipes and extract nutrients are freely available on GitHub at Indian Nutrient Databank INDB.